Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

They don’t make anything better — they make things needlessly
complicated and funnel money into corporations.They help
nobody except Bloomberg’s friends. I have not seen substantive improvement in
education under Bloomberg and his band of people — none of whom are educators
or teachers. I’m a teacher — I really know what goes on. They never say they’re sorry. They never take
responsibility. They cry for accountability but there’s none for them because
being a reformer means never having to say you’re sorry. Their fanatic
ideologies accomplish nothing — you watch this stuff happen before you and
it’s like a catch 22.

Many Regents exams are still
missing

The city Department of Education has lost some students’ Regents exams
due to a new and complicated grading system that sent the exams to Connecticut
to be graded.

The system, called “distributive grading,” was initiated by Mayor
Bloomberg this year in light of last year’s cheating scandal at Stuyvesant
High School, and bans teachers from grading their students’ exams.

As part of the complicated procedure, Regents in Global History, US
History, English and Living Environment were sent out of state to be scanned
into a computer and sent back to New York via the internet so teachers could
grade the anonymous exams.

The scanning machines in Connecticut could not accomodate the size of
large print exams that had been shipped out of New York.

“These exams got lost on the way back to New York — we have an entire
batch of missing tests because of the DOE’s incompetence,” Adam Bergstein,
United Federation of Teachers Chapter President of Forest Hills High School
said.

The notice that advertised available positions to grade the Regents did
not say having a teaching license was required. One teacher in the ESL
department of Francis Lewis High School who graded the English regents
reported that when the group of graders was asked how many had never graded a
Regents before, half of those in the room raised their hands.

Arthur Goldstein, an ESL teacher and the UFT Chapter President at Francis
Lewis High School, was told that those people with no grading experience were
let go. The DOE claimed to void the exams they had graded, but Goldstein
suggested that those graders may be one reason why some students received
grades that were much lower than expected.

Goldstein also explained how insulted he was by the DOE’s opposition to
teachers grading their students exam because of their fear of cheating.

“This line of thinking that because I spend a year with a kid — because I
read his papers every day — I should not be entitled to evaluate this kid,
it’s like saying I shouldn’t be taking care of my daughter because I care
about her,” Goldstein said.

“In fact I know my students better than strangers do. It’s just such a
ridiculous thing and not only do they not let us grade, but they took the
papers and stuck them on trucks and shipped them to Connecticut to be scanned.
They added all these extra steps and paid millions to do it for no reason
whatsoever. It’s mind-boggling how stupid this is,” he said.

Goldstein explained that as an ESL teacher, he is familiar with common
mistakes made by individuals learning English, but that another grader may not
be.

“A stranger won’t know the limitations of the student, but I do. All ESL
teachers are sympathetic to English language learners. We find the meaning
behind the writing, rather than penalize for small errors,” he said.

“You had hundreds if not thousands of English teachers just sitting
around for a week and a half because they were forbidden from grading their
exams,” Bergstein said. Some teachers were sent to district school sites such
as Cardozo High School, but the scanner that was used to grade the exams was
behind schedule.

“Not only did you have this productivity loss, but you had teachers
sitting around waiting because they were unable to accurately grade essays
because the process was being halted or slowed down or not even working
entirely,” he added.

Many students who are usually academically high-achieving students,
including those in honors and Advanced Placement classes, did not even pass
the Regents exam.

Bergstein said, “With no explanation, no evaluation, no appeal, there
wasn’t anybody looking into how all of these unbelievably strong academic
students did so poorly on exams that normally they would have walked away from
with high 80s, low 90s. They have to take this test again so that’s a whole
other issue that has deeply upset and concerned teachers. How do you take
really strong academic candidates and put them in a situation where they did
so poorly?”

In some instances, essays were partially cut off when they were scanned
into the computer system in Connecticut, leaving out sentences and paragraphs
of the students’ writing. The computer also often omitted the question that
was being graded, making it impossible to evaluate the work. And though the
grading system was designed to create anonymity, the students’ names and
schools were visible.

“The one thing I took from all my fellow colleagues is just the sheer
dehumanizing aspect of sitting in front of some terminal hour after hour
grading essays,” Bergstein said. “And in some instances it’s entirely unfair
to students because although they’re trying to eliminate cheating, if you have
somebody who’s not all too comfortable working on a computer to grade essays,
these students aren’t being given the opportunity to be judged
accurately.”

When the Chronicle contacted the DOE, the DOE alluded to their statement
released two weeks ago from the executive director of assessment, Niket Mull,
to school principals that said “We understand the importance of having Regents
scores back as soon as possible, especially for graduating seniors, and
apologize for this delay. We are continuing to work closely with the vendor to
accelerate scanning and address the situation. At this time, we expect schools
to have access to final results by the end of the day Monday, June 24, as
scheduled.”

High school seniors signed waivers and graduation ceremonies were
reworded to show that graduation was contingent upon the results of the
Regents.

“There’s a likelihood that you have hundreds of students who are going to
have to wait until July or August before they even know if they passed a class
or passed a Regents or will graduate at all because the DOE decided to
basically look outside the city workforce to try to find a cheap source to
scan grades into computers,” Bergstein said.

Parents of one student whose Regents is lost emailed Mull to voice their
outrage and ask what is being done to find the exam.

The Queens Chronicle obtained Mull’s response which said, “Unfortunately,
the exam scoring process was delayed beyond the expected schedule, and a small
number of exams are continuing to be scored. We hope to be able to share an
update soon, and final results will continue to be loaded for the remaining
exams into early next week.”

Mull and the testing coordinator, Marc Bush, did not respond to requests
for comment.

“The DOE doesn’t seem to be taking it with a seriousness or importance
that it warrants and they really haven’t explained a clear explanation for how
they are going to find missing exams,” Bergstein said. “They made a mistake
and they broke what wasn’t broken and now they don’t seem to want to take
responsibility for fixing it. They’re going to try to find it, but nobody
seems to know the procedure and process which will be implemented.”

“They lost boxes of Regents — can you imagine if city teachers did things
like that?” Goldstein said. “Bloomberg makes these outrageous gaffes and
nobody says anything. It would be funny if it wasn’t so absurd, but this is
emblematic of every reform Bloomberg has brought to New York City
schools.”

The grading system created by McGraw-Hill Education cost the city $9.6
million. “Money that could have been used to fix up deteriorating buildings or
provide supplies for classrooms was wasted on contracting computer-scanned
tests,” Bergstein said. “These poor kids are going to have to wait around to
see if this incompetence can resolve itself and find what they lost.”

“They don’t make anything better — they make things needlessly
complicated and funnel money into corporations,” Goldstein said. “They help
nobody except Bloomberg’s friends. I have not seen substantive improvement in
education under Bloomberg and his band of people — none of whom are educators
or teachers. I’m a teacher — I really know what goes on,” Goldstein
said.

He continued, “They never say they’re sorry. They never take
responsibility. They cry for accountability but there’s none for them because
being a reformer means never having to say you’re sorry. Their fanatic
ideologies accomplish nothing — you watch this stuff happen before you and
it’s like a catch 22.”

Comments are welcome. Irrelevant and abusive comments will be deleted, as will all commercial links. Comment moderation is on, so if your comment does not appear it is because I have not been at my computer (I do not do cell phone moderating).

UFT Election Vote Comparison: 2004-10

A Personal Historical Perspective

Why Karen Lewis Reads Ed Notes

"A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

What media call "philanthropy" for the public schools are actually seed monies to establish a private "market" in publicly-financed education - an enterprise worth trillions if successfully penetrated by corporate America. Cory Booker, one of the "New Black Leaders" financed by the filthy rich, is key to creating a "nationwide corporate-managed schools network paid for by public funds but run by private managers.

"Ed Reformers" want to cash in on public education and to control its content and outcome, not improve it. Provide great education? Baby boomers had as close as this country has ever gotten to it when we were growing up. The Ed Reform Movement has no interest in seeing such a well-educated, democratically astute population ever again.

History of the UFT Pre-Weingarten Years

This award-winning series of articles by Jack Schierenbeck originally appeared in the New York Teacher in 1996 and 1997.

Naturally, from a certain point of view. But, despite certain biases, Schierenbeck, a great guy, was one of the best NY Teacher reporters so this is worth reading. Jack suffered a debilitating stroke many years ago (I used to get secret donations to ed notes from him through a 3rd source.)

“The schism in the union over radical politics [is] a major reason for stalling the growth of a teacher union for decades.” Revolutionary politics and ideology take center stage, as the original Teachers Union becomes a battlefield, pitting leftist against leftist and splitting the union.

Clarence Taylor's "Reds at the Blackboard" focused on the old Teachers Union which disbanded in 1964 after suffering from anti-left attacks.

Effective Union Organizing

A video series put together by Jason Mann from the British Columbia Federation of Teachers about social media and how to use it for effective union organizing.

The first series was called New Media For Union Activists Roadmap and it's still available on-line at:http://www.newmediabootcamp.ca/welcome/I watched some of them and need to rewatch as they are loaded with information.

The second series started last week and it's called "Online Campaigning for Union Activists"

You Don't Have A Choice - Join the Revolt

Hedges says, There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or you stand on the wrong side of history.

Ex-Harlem Success Teacher Comments on Eva the Diva

I am a former Harlem Success teacher. Not many people who work/worked for her like her very much. I once made the comment that she is very nice when I first was hired. Two of her closest colleague responded immediately almost in unison, "Eve is not nice!" Over time I realized that there was a lot of political games going on. Another colleague once said to me that he was tired of "being part of a political campaign." Sending out 15,000 applications for only 400 seats in a school is reprehensible. The money that paid for those mass mailings could have paid the yearly salary of another teacher not to mention the heartache of all those parents who applied but did not get a spot. She does good work trying to give disadvantaged students a quality public school education but at a great cost to staff AND the school's educational budget! school budget.

GEM's Julie Cavanagh Debates E4E member on NY1 on LIFO and Seniority

Davis Guggenheim Compared to Riefenstahl

“Waiting for Superman" is the second most intellectually dishonest piece of documentary work I have seen. It is surpassed only by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," the pro-Hitler propaganda classic, in that regard. Uses personal narratives of adorable children to create narrative suspense that overrides public policy discussion with pure emotion in unscrupulous attack on teachers and their unions, among others

Timothy TysonProfessor of African American Studies and HistoryDuke University

A Familiar Voice on Unions

"We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike"- Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933

How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference

Even as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and others around the nation are arguing for experienced teachers to be laid off regardless of seniority, every single study shows teaching experience matters. In fact, the only two observable factors that have been found consistently to lead to higher student achievement are class size and teacher experience, so that it’s ironic that these same individuals are trying to undermine both.- Leonie Haimson on Parents Across America web site

Outsource our children

Weingarten/Gates Foundation announce drone-driven teacher evaluation

According to a press release issued by the Gates Foundation, the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, these three have entered a ground-breaking partnership to evaluate teachers utilizing the drone technology that has revolutionized warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A bird-size device floats up to 400 feet above a classroom and instantly beams live video of teachers in action to agents at desks at Teacher Quality Inspection Stations established by the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

When asked if the drones were authorized to drop bombs on teachers who exhibit inadequacy, Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, replied, "Don't be ridiculous. Gates money puts other methods at our disposal."

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million-member American Federation of Teachers said the powerful union has signed on to the drone project...

Teacher Value-Added Data Dumping by Norm Scott

The Real Reason Behind Push for Standardized Tests: It's All About the Adults

On standardized testing in our schools

A must read article about the standardized test industry.Written by an insider who has worked as a test scorer, the article outlines a multinational industry based on an army of temporary workers paid by the piece at $0.30 to $0.70 per test, translated in the need to grade 40 tests per hour to make a $12 salary. The article goes on to show how the companies gauge the grading "results" based on the need to ensure new contracts to continue profiting off of our youth. The original article is from Monthly Review. Here it is on Schools Matter blog.

From Sharon Higgins

Parallels between America today and Germany in the 1920's and early 30's

"Resentment and obstruction are all the right wing in America have to peddle. Their policies are utterly discredited. Their ideology - even by its own standards - is a sham. They are so bereft of leaders, their de facto leader is a former drug addicted, thrice-divorced radio talk show host. That is literally the best they can muster. But they have built a national franchise inciting the downwardly mobile to blame the government, not the right, for their problems, exactly as Hitler did in the 1920s."

Chicago View of Unity/UFT on Charters

After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings — though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.

Ed Notes Greatest Hits: HSA Rally and Founding of GEM

Angel Gonzalez and I attended that rally and used the footage to promote our conference on Mar. 28, 2009, which is where the concept of a group like GEM emerged. Until then we had basically been a committee of ICE working with the NYCORE high stakes testing group. The actions of Eva and crew helped spawn GEM. Mommie Dearest!!

I have more video somewhere. I was hoping to get Leni Riefenstahl to edit it but she died. We would have called it "Triumph of the Hedge Fund Operators."

Video of Chicago's George Schmidt and CORE Shredding Arne Duncan and the Chicago Corporate Model

Great Post on Teacher Quality at the Morton School

I'm very tired of the myth that schools are bursting at the seams with apathetic, unskilled, surly, child-hating losers who can't get jobs doing anything else. I recently figured that, counting high school and college where one encounters many teachers in the course of a year, I had well over 100 teachers in my lifetime, and I can only say that one or two truly had no place being in a classroom.